Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the northeast of Iberia: Chronology and socioeconomic dynamics

The northeast of the Iberian Peninsula is a region that so far has contributed little information on the transition between the last hunter-gatherer groups and the first farming communities. Although data about the Late Mesolithic is still scanty, in recent years more information has been obtained about the Early Neolithic as a consequence of several research projects and excavations. The few known Mesolithic records and more abundant data on the Early Neolithic are studied here, highlighting the transition between the two periods and the problem of the scarcity of information about the last Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. With the available data, we propose a late extension of the ‘Notches and Denticulates Mesolithic’ phase as the final Mesolithic population in the region. The first evidence of Neolithic communities is then documented after a hiatus of about 500 years (c. 6000-5500 cal BC). These communities initially settled in littoral and pre-littoral zones, although by c. 5300 cal BC they had occupied the rest of northeast Iberia, including high mountain regions. From the start, these groups shared a consolidated agricultural economy despite the fact specific differences are attested depending on their geographic location.
Some of the results presented here are framed within the research carried out for projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. These are: ‘Ocupaciones lacustres y gestión de recursos en las primeras sociedades agrícola-ganaderas del NE peninsular: Tecnología de las producciones materiales, usos instrumentales, estrategias agroforestales y ganaderas’ (HAR2009-13494-C02-01 and 02), ‘Aproximación a las primeras comunidades neolíticas del NE peninsular a través de sus prácticas funerarias’ (HAR2011-23149), ‘Organización social de las primeras comunidades agrícola-ganaderas a partir del espacio doméstico: Elementos estructurales y áreas de producción y consumo de bienes, arquitectura en madera y áreas de procesado y consumo de alimentos’ (HAR2012-38838-C02-01 and 02), ‘Aproximación a las primeras comunidades neolíticas del Mediterráneo nordoccidental: construyendo respuesta desde los análisis paleoantropológicos y genéticos’(HAR2015-67323-C2), ‘La difusión del neolítico en el Mediterráneo centro-occidental: agricultura, innovaciones tecnológicas y carbono 14’ (HAR2016-75201-P) and ‘Producciones, variabilidad técnica e innovación tecnológica en el Neolítico’ (HAR2016-76534-C2-2-R). The authors of the present study belong to the research groups: SERP (2014SGR-0108) at the University of Barcelona (XO), AGREST (2014SGR-1169) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (BM) and the Spanish National Research Council CSIC-IMF(JFG and XT), and ICARHEB -Universidade de Algarve- (JFG and XT).